GFT Retrospective #41: The Lion and the Mouse

Article by Sean Wilkinson,

On a Rocky journey to follow his Creed.

See what I did there?

Does anyone else hate it when someone does something painfully obvious (usually the telling of a terrible Dad Joke--which used to just be called puns before the youth of my generation got all ageist and gendered with their labels, but I've already said a lot about why giving a damn about labels is as stupid as it is necessary in my They/Them review, so like that guy who paints sportsball turf, I dye grass)...so, yeah; does anyone else hate it when someone does something painfully obvious, and then asks their "audience," see what I did there? Yes. Yes, we all know what a clever little baby you are for cheaply getting our attention. Now shove your pacifier up your ass and go stand in the corner until the bell rings.

To my Ticketholders, remember to like this post down below, leave a few rounds of punchy comments, subscribe, follow, and click up my ad revenue from mouse-size to lion-size because I and the Leo named SEO will thank you.

Speaking of animals and pugilism references, let's move on to today's selection in the Grimm Fairy Tales Retrospective.

GFT #38: The Lion And the Mouse

This issue tells the story of Michael Lyons, a wannabe street thug who is taken in by fight promoter Dan Roden (yeah, Zenescope is still doing their on-the-nose naming convention thing) and grows into a promising mixed martial arts fighter. On the biggest night of his career, Lyons is still recovering from a shoulder injury and is about to abandon his mentor to the mercy—or lack thereof—of a group of mobsters to whom Roden owes money.

Enter Sela, posing as the new ring card girl, who does her “oops! I dropped my book, now I’m Batman” act, with the book magically opening to (or manifesting as) The Lion And the Mouse.

The original was one of Aesop’s fables, not one of the Grimm Brothers’ animal tales, and told of a mouse whose life was spared by a lion, and later returned the favor by freeing the lion from a hunter’s net. Other versions have the mouse removing a thorn from the lion’s paw (adapted here as Michael Lyons’ shoulder injury), which is in turn taken from the Greek classical tale of Androcles. The version in Sela’s book is very similar to Aesop’s, but for some reason is more contemporary than other Grimm Fairy Tales tellings.

The hunter in this version intends to sell the lion, named Uche, to the San Diego Zoo when the mouse comes along and frees him from an animal cage. Later, Uche (who is now drawn to look like Scar for some reason) gets the opportunity to rescue the mouse from three other lions. The outcome is unclear, but the message is not.

A short and brutal fight between Lyons and his opponent ends on a happy note for once, but it also ends with a pun about Lyons sacrificing his *pride* for friendship, so I call it a wash. Predictable GFT fare with average art and well-depicted action, plus it’s good to see Sela back, even if only for a brief time.

Not to be a hypocrite, but I hope you saw what I did there (in terms of reading what I wrote, not in terms of seeking validation for my numerous boxing puns--which do not always have to be jokes, nor do they have to be told by fathers, or by men, for that matter; the lowest form of comedy is still comedy, after all, and as subjective as it is, comedy, from a holistic perspective, is funny to everyone, so don't be ashamed to laugh...unless it's like, a Michael Richards meltdown, or something, but I'm ranting and it's time to paint that astroturf again, so I digress).

I also hope you remember to like, comment, subscribe, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, and Facebook for the latest news and updates on my content. Conveniently, the Nostalgia Critic has dubbed March "Pirates' Month," and tomorrow's TBT 2023 on the aforementioned platforms will be an old double-feature review of Bad Teacher and Pirates Of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. And next week, it's in my nature to help you across those unusual waters with a Retrospective look at Grimm Fairy Tales #39: The Scorpion and the Frog. How's that for a closing stinger?

Okay,

I'm Out

Of Puns....